Presidents Goitia, Santa Coloma, and Calancha—Undue Interference of Federal Officials—Colunje's Administration—President Olarte's Energy—Enmity of the Arrabal's Negroes—Short and Disturbed Rules of Diaz and Ponce—President Correoso—Negro Element in the Ascendent—Conservatives Rebel, and are Discomfited—Armed Peace for a Time—Feverish Rules of Neira, Miró, Aizpuru, Correoso, and Casorla—Cervera's Long Tenure—Temporary Rule of Vives Leon—President Santodomingo Vila—Obtains Leave of Absence—Is Succeeded by Pablo Arosemena—Aizpuru's Revolution—Arosemena Flees and Resigns—Outrages at Colon—American Forces Protect Panamá—Collapse of the Revolution—Aizpuru and Correoso Imprisoned—Chief Causes of Disturbances on the Isthmus.
A constituent assembly installed on the 6th of May, 1863,[XXVI-1] decreed a constitution to conform with the national one.[XXVI-2] Pedro Goitia, who for some time past had been president of the constituent assembly, was chosen president of the state, to hold the position till the 1st of October, on which date the elect of the people was to assume the executive authority.[XXVI-3] After this, the state being tranquil, the military force was placed on a peace footing. But Goitia was not permitted to complete even the short term for which he had been appointed. He had to resign the position, General Peregrino Santa Coloma being chosen by the legislative assembly to fill it, and he took possession of the office on the 13th of August.[XXVI-4] Santa Coloma, being afterward as was made to appear elected president, held the executive office a short time only, for the reason that he was chosen a representative in the national congress at Bogotá.[XXVI-5] José Leonardo Calancha, as vice-president, now took charge of the executive, which he was allowed to hold only till the 9th of March, 1865, when he was deposed.[XXVI-6]
RAPID SUCCESSION OF RULERS.
Jil Colunje[XXVI-7] was placed at the head of affairs by the revolution, and a convention called on the 8th of April to meet on the 1st of July, and reconstruct the state.[XXVI-8] Colunje was appointed president for the term from August 9, 1865, to September 30, 1866.[XXVI-9] At the expiration of that term Vicente Olarte Galindo, who had been apparently elected, became president on the 1st of October, 1866, and appointed José M. Bermudez his secretary of state.
Olarte's election is represented as an enthusiastic one, and intended as a reward for the services he rendered to the better portion of the Isthmian community, with his defeat of the Caucano invaders.[XXVI-10]
He found himself in a constant disagreement with the legislature of the state, which he forced to submit to his dictation.[XXVI-11] The whole negro party of the arrabal was his mortal enemy, but he managed to keep it under by making it feel occasionally the effect of his battalion's bullets. In the last attempt against his power, the negroes were severely punished, and they never tried again to measure strength with him.[XXVI-12] His power was now more secure than ever, and his way became plain to procure the election as his successor to the presidency of his brother, then residing in Chiriquí.
BLACK PROCEEDINGS.
The negroes were in despair, as they could find no means of seizing the government. From the time of Guardia's deposal they had been enjoying the public spoils, and could not bear the idea of being kept out of them, when their number was four or five times larger than that of the white men. The success of Olarte's plans would be the death of their aspirations, which were the control of public affairs, by ousting the whites, who were mostly conservatives.[XXVI-13] It became, therefore, a necessity to rid the country of that ogre; and as this could not be done by force of arms, poison was resorted to. The plan was well matured, and carried out in San Miguel, one of the Pearl Islands, where Olarte went upon an official visit. Olarte's death occurred on the 3d of March, 1868, without his knowing that he had been poisoned. This crime was not the act of one man, but of a whole political party, which took care to have the death attributed to a malignant fever. It became public, however, through the family of another man, who also became a victim.[XXVI-14] No official or post-mortem examination was made, and the matter was hushed up.
Olarte's death was greatly deplored by the better class of the community, and high honors were paid to his remains,[XXVI-15] by the legislature and the community, the foreign consuls and their countrymen joining. In the absence of the first designado, Manuel Amador Guerrero, the second, Juan José Diaz, took the reins of government.[XXVI-16] His tenure of the presidential office was a short one, however; for in the morning of the 5th of July, a revolution by the black men of the arrabal broke out in Panamá, headed by General Fernando Ponce, commander of the national forces, and Diaz was overthrown.[XXVI-17] They said that the liberal party had been cheated out of its majority at the late election for deputies, by the unlawful devices of its conservative opponents; and it was but logical to conclude that the same practices would be again resorted to at the coming election of president of the state.[XXVI-18] There was really no cause for this revolution. The excuses alleged by the promoters were frivolous. They only wanted to seize power and secure the spoils.
Ponce was placed at the head of affairs as provisional president, to rule in accordance with the national and state constitutions, and existing laws; and in his absence, the following persons, in the order named, were to assume the duties: Buenaventura Correoso, Pablo Arosemena, Mateo Iturralde, Pedro Goitia, and Juan Mendoza.[XXVI-19] Thus was the movement accomplished; a provisional government was recognized by the foreign consuls, and by four of the interior departments, which submitted to the change rather than become involved in civil war. On the 20th of July a general amnesty was decreed.[XXVI-20]